Judaism

Today, Jewish people live in many countries, but their history began long, long ago in a region we now call the Middle East.

One of the first Jews was called Abraham. He believed that there was one God, who had made the world and everything in it.

Abraham’s son, Isaac, followed in his footsteps and became a leader of the Jewish people, as did Isaac’s son, Jacob.

Many years later, God spoke to Moses, who became a teacher and a prophet. Moses received messages from God and these teachings were written down and became known as the Torah. Because of what God had told him, Moses went on to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt and into Israel.

Jewish people meet to pray to their God in synagogues. On Friday evenings, they have a special family meal in their home and they celebrate the Jewish faith. Saturday is known as the Sabbath, a day of rest.

Throughout the year, there are several special Jewish celebrations or holy times, when they fast, feast and pray.

Jewish Law is very strict about the treatment of animals. Stating that "It is forbidden, according to the law of Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature." Jews are forbidden to hunt animals, but the decision about whether of not to eat meat is left to the individual conscience. Kosher slaughter has been criticised (by those within the Jewish faith as well as those outside it) because modern practices are not consistent with the original meaning of the law, which was intended to minimise the suffering endured by food animals.

Jewish (and Muslim – see Islam) dietary laws stress that the animal must be in good health at the time of slaughter, which is why no blow or shock to "stun" the animal is first allowed. Reformists, however, feel that the literal interpretation of the law has wrongly been allowed to become more important than its intention. Former Chief Rabbi of Haifa said "Part of the Jewish religion is eating Kosher food which limits the numbers and kinds of animals we can eat, but we explain this as stages educating mankind towards the ideal of becoming vegetarian."

This is the Jewish star of David on the new Synagogue in Sharston called Menorah. Mrs Daniels has visited many times.

Ghisla Feldman is a German Jew. She is 84 years old and at the begining of the 2nd World War was one of the last Jewish refugees to escape from Germany on the St. Louis boat.

Ken Singer pictured on the left, works for “Windows for Peace” an organisation which encourages youths from Palestine and Israel to come together in peace. He is with Rabbi Brian Fox of the Menorah Synagogue.